4Runner RestoMod

[OSRC]

Rebuilding and modifying a 1/9 Kyosho 4Runner....Goal is more of a light runner since I have plenty of rigs to go beat on, and parts for this are super hard to find. Really cool and unique chassis, and well worth a rebuild.

Initial condition is a chassis that looks mint and a body that is totally, totally beat. Not sure how you do that, but oh well. I'll worry about the body later. As it stood, the drivetrain was turning really hard and the steering was super stiff as well. I started pulling it apart to see what I could do.

Front end setup: geared diff and steering in front of the axles. Super beefy suspension arms and hubs. Good set-up for its day.

Pulled off the front gearbox and it was filled with some sort of alien vaseline goo. Can see it gooped over the ring gear. Super thick and sticky and crammed in there - no wonder the front diff would not spin.

Hey! There is a gear in there!

Tore it all down, cleaned out all the goop and found a steel pinion, composite ring gear, and all metal bushings. Dug around in my parts bin and found a Kyosho Super 10 sealed diff with a nice metal gear attatched. Filled it with 100k silicone diff oil and and it dropped right in. Added bearings all around that I raided from some other kits, and got a much smoother, stronger drivetrain with a front LSD.

Cleaned and lubed all the joints, pins, parts and put it back together. Shocks were filled with 40wt oil. Suprisingly, they were both full already and no leaks, even as old as they are. Good stuff! Just refilled them so I know what's in there.

Next: steering and tranny

 

[balln]

Subscribed!!!

I want a pathfinder so bad :twisted:

 

[adamargue]

Looks good man pretty interesting I've never seen one of these.

 

[ctrwannabe]

ill be watching this, i have an 01 pathfinder and like it alot !

Subscribed!!!


I want a pathfinder so bad :twisted:

hey man i stumbled upon this thread tonight, you should check it out "thumbsup"
2000 Pathfinder 3-link - RONIN Wheelers

 

[1BadJeepBruiser]

Looks like a 4runner body in the back ground. I have had quite a few of these. I have te steering set up from my original one and I have some other random spare parts including the belts that go in the transmission. One of my 1st builds on this forum was doing a SAS on a 4runner using the stock chassis and tlt axles.

 

[OSRC]

This is a 4Runner, my bad....it came with Pathfinder instructions, was listed as a Pathfinder, and I never even noticed that it was a 4Runner body until i read 1BJB's post.

 

[OSRC]

Pulled the steering as the bellcranks had a ton of resistance when turning, and can immediately see why - both screws are way bent. It’s a way complicated set-up, though it’s pretty beefy overall. I may change it later, but for now I just stripped and cleaned it.

Reassembled. I got rid of the long screw and spring for the built in servo saver and just used a smaller spring and bolted it together. Replaced the original ball ends with some fresh TRX ones that are much more free overall.

Front end take care of! Everything is now nice and smooth.

On to the transmission…out of the box this truck has a dual motor belt driven transmission with a center diff. Cool set-up, but the belt has been sitting for a long time and developed memory so it spun kind of notchy. Not a fan of belts in my trucks, so here where the “mods” part of this restomod come in.

Underside view:

Stripped down tranny:

Belt drive and center diff. Cool stuff, but belongs on touring cars imho

Tranny removed and started making new holes…

More to come..

 

[Robe]

sik!

cant wait more more "thumbsup"

 

[Colby]

Oh man, this is great! Keep the updates coming!

 

[OSRC]

Update!

Here's the mod part of the restomod...since this chassis is so big, a 3 speed tranny drops right in. Well, not right in, but it fits pretty good. Took it out of my F350 since I wanted to lower the body and its been sitting collecting dust ever since. Figured this would work out pretty well since this chassis is plenty big enough. turns out it was almost a match made in heaven!

Fitting it in backwards to put the outputs towards the front. Flipped the shifter rod towards the front as well. I cut a hole in the chassis just big enough to drop the outputs through, I can still go back to stock if needed. Fits like a glove!

Just need to make a skid of sorts for the bottom, but it tucks up nicely behind the front diff. Put it as far forward as I could so it wasn't hanging down in the middle of the chassis.

Started fabbing up a tranny mount....

Bent up and in place. Also braces up the chassis as well, it was basically a flat plate and was quite flexy (cutting a huge hole didn't help either) - with this running aross the top, it's much more solid. I'll clean it up and paint it later.

 

[OSRC]

Moving right along...

Rear axle: this truck has a 4 ink rear with straight links with actual rubber bushings and a panhard to keep the axle inline. Very cool, though limited set-up. I could have redid the links for more travel, and probably will later, but for now just building it as is. Doesn't really need a lot of travel as a mall crawler. Looks like at some point the original panhard mount was busted off the axle and the PO fabbed a new mount. Left it be for now, but will need to be addressed at some point - it hangs down below the axle once it compresses - only a matter of time till it rips off.

I already added the TLT shocks in the back a while ago - the stockers had leaked and were a bit short and limited travel. The TLT's fit perfect and seem to work well.

Pulled the axle as it was turning very hard and found more bushings, another plastic gear and more thick, tacky grease.

Cleaned it all out, added another metal ring gear and rebuilt with bearings all around. I was debating locking the rear diff, but the sun gears are pressed onto the axles themselves, so if I JB welded everything together, the diff would be completely glued together....permanently. If I needed to replace the ring gear at some point, I'd need a whole new assembly. Didn't feel like dealing with that, so just filled it up with 10k silicone for a limited slip effect like the front. Really like this approach....diffs allow slippage for turning, but are definitely not "open" - feels like a good balance, wouldn't mind using this on more of my scalers.

Stripped the shocks and polished them up. Axle spins MUCH better.

Tossed in some driveshafts and electronics, and drove it around the basement. HW BL system cogs badly and will be replaced with a 27t brushed. Fabbed up some linkages for the steering and transmission. The msc servo location was perfect for the transmission - flipped the servo and it dropped right in. Fixed the broken body mount while I was at it - had a few left over from my old Super10's. Experimenting with wheels and tires - ...truck needs +10 minimum offset to fill the wheel wells. So far, liking the ones in back. Tires are just a bit too tall, have a set of flat irons on the way which should fit perfect.

Next...body work. Have to see what I can do to salvage it. Cracked, scuffed, and bent up. hmm...

 

[Colby]

Man I love this thing! Keep the updates coming!

 

[clayton78]

Very Cool!!! Cant wait to see the finished product!

 

[XSRCdesign]

Just a FYI, RC4wd repopped this body..

might want to check them out

 

[OSRC]

Thanks all..she's moving along slowly.

Just a FYI, RC4wd repopped this body..

might want to check them out

I know, but I don't shop there anymore so it's out. TBG makes one as well if I need it, but going to try and save the OG one. Has an 11.5" wb, so finding something else that fits is always an option too.

 

[OSRC]

Started bodywork...

Grill is in decent shape, will just add a little paint and clean it up.

Fabbed up some EZ sliders and started trying to patch the body. Got a bunch of dents, rents and tears. Added some reinforcements with some shoe glue and some scrap lexan first before working on it.

Put the front fenders back on the the chassis and put a 27t motor and 16t pinion on it for now. Got the wheels and tires sorted out - the lox were a little tall, the FI's are a perfect height.

 

[OSRC]

Body is all but done - not spending any more time on it really, it's not going to make much difference....it's a 5 footer all the way no matter how much I do to it. Do have a few bolt ons coming - roof rack, sliders, etc.

The lexan is super brittle. I was putting the screw back into the grill and the plastic just fell apart as I worked with it. Shoo goo is holding everything together in this corner.

Chassis bottom shot to see how the tranny pokes down. Nothing special...works like a champ though. Defintely mall crawler territory as far as clearance - anything more serious and I'd need a skid here.

Pretty much reassembled - have some more stuff to add, but almost done. Very much debating going to to 2.2's - the pics don't show it, but I'm not a fan of the 1.9's with 10mm of offset. Still not wide enough in the back, and has a TON of scrub in the front. May mess with some rims and see what else I have. Can't hurt, worst I can do is put the 1.9's back on.